Chapter 20
Three weeks later
“No, don’t pull out yet.” Michael made a pleased sound when Anthony buried deeper into him, even though his knot had softened enough by now to pull out.
It felt so good—the closeness of it. Michael was utterly addicted to it.
The press of their bodies, heartbeats syncing, sweat mingling. Intimacy so raw it was intoxicating.
Anthony chuckled by his ear, stroking his bare arm idly. “You’re the biggest knot-slut I’ve ever been with. Omegas in heat have nothing on you.”
Michael snarled before he could control his expression.
Anthony’s eyes had been fixed on him, so of course he hadn’t missed it. “You’re jealous,” he said, a strange look flickering through his blue eyes.
Michael forced a laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. Talking about past sex partners while you still have your knot in me just isn’t polite. It’s basic courtesy, Ant.”
“It wasn’t criticism,” Anthony said, stroking his arm with his strong, capable fingers. “I like it. I like how much you love having my knot in you.”
It took an effort not to blush.
Michael glared at him half-heartedly, wishing Anthony had left it unspoken.
They both knew how much Michael loved being knotted—it would have been hard to miss, considering how often he begged for Anthony’s knot while they fucked.
But Anthony hadn’t needed to actually say it.
It made Michael painfully aware of his behavior—of everything he shouldn’t have been doing.
Not only had they not followed Hugh’s advice, but it felt like things had been getting worse. Anthony sought him out every damn day and fucked him senseless, so often and so thoroughly that Michael felt perpetually raw, loose, and leaking with him. And he loved it. Gods, did he love it.
He knew they were playing with fire. He wasn’t an idiot.
He’d stopped believing that it was “one last time” weeks ago.
But knowing there was a problem wasn’t the same as doing something about it.
He was weak. He couldn’t get enough of this, utterly addicted to the feeling of Anthony’s body against him, inside of him.
Even the full moon hadn’t been a deterrent this time.
Despite his heightened aggression during his rut, he’d ended up texting Anthony and asking him to come.
The sex had been more violent than usual—he’d spent the first few rounds aggressively riding Anthony’s cock, not allowing him to be on top until Anthony finally lost his patience and made him take it.
But it had been so much better than his previous rut two weeks ago, which he’d spent alone, biting his pillow and rutting against the mattress, trying and failing to imagine fucking some omega.
“I’m so glad you texted me,” Anthony said, as if reading his thoughts. He nuzzled Michael’s ear before sucking lazy kisses into his jawline. “I didn’t like the thought of you being alone and miserable during your rut. I knew I could take care of you better.”
There was such primitive alpha pride in his voice it made Michael smile in amusement.
But then his smile slipped. Anthony shouldn’t have been thinking of him in terms of taking care of him.
It was… odd. Alphas didn’t take care of each other.
Their protective instincts didn’t extend to other alphas.
Moreover, an alpha should’ve bristled at the mere suggestion that he needed to be taken care of.
Michael’s stomach clenched.
“Though I was a little surprised that you wanted me to fuck you even during your rut,” Anthony said. “Thought you might ask to top.”
Michael winced. He had been surprised too. If he hadn’t wanted to fuck Anthony even during his rut, at the height of his aggression, he wasn’t sure what it said about him.
“Would you have allowed me?” he said curiously. “If I did want to top?”
A grimace flickered over Anthony’s face. “I’m not sure. I’d like to think I could do it for you, but...” He gave Michael a rueful look. “Probably not.”
Michael laughed, giving him a quick kiss. “At least you’re honest.”
Smiling wryly, Anthony sucked on Michael’s bottom lip. “I’m not going to feel bad about it when I know how much you love taking my cock.”
“Arrogant dick,” Michael said with a fond smile. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling. He stroked Anthony’s strong back, reveling in how good it felt to touch him.
Anthony buried his face against Michael’s neck. “Speaking of being on top, have I told you how much I love that I can lie on top of you like this?” He nibbled on Michael’s scent gland, his voice a bit hoarse. “I like that I’m not too heavy for you, that I can keep my knot in you forever.”
Michael stared at the ceiling, unfocused, fighting not to lose himself in the heat of Anthony’s mouth on his neck.
His mind turned into something liquid, able to focus only on the closeness of Anthony’s body, the way his mouth was running down the length of his throat.
Anthony’s words curled through him, warm and intoxicating. Forever.
“We don’t have forever, though,” Michael whispered.
Anthony tensed up before sinking his teeth into his much-abused neck. A jolt of pain-pleasure shot through Michael’s body. “Ant!”
Anthony didn’t say anything.
It confused him. Anthony had been strangely reluctant to talk about the issue after their conversation weeks ago.
He seemed content to ignore it. It was weird.
Anthony was normally very brash and straightforward.
Pretending that a problem didn’t exist was very unlike him, but it was exactly what he had been doing.
“Stop using me like your chew toy, Anthony Blake. We do need to talk about it.”
Anthony sighed into his neck. “I just don’t see the point,” he said bitingly.
“We already said everything there was to say. You want to reverse the changes. We’ll need to stay away from each other for that.
What’s the point in talking about it over and over?
Just tell me when you want us to stop, and we’ll stop. ”
Michael’s brows knitted together. “Why are you talking about it like...”
“Like what?”
“Like it’s an option? Like it’s something stupid I’m choosing to do. It’s not an option, Ant.”
“Isn’t it?”
Michael blinked. “What?” he spluttered. “You can’t really think there are other options! If we carry on like this, I might eventually become an omega!”
Silence.
At long last, Anthony lifted his head. His blue eyes seemed almost feverish with intensity as they locked with Michael’s. “Would it be a bad thing?”
Michael opened his mouth and closed it without saying anything. When he finally managed to find his voice, it was faint. “You... You can’t be serious.”
Anthony’s jaw worked. He averted his gaze. “I’m not telling you what to do with your own body,” he said, his voice rough. “But considering how much you love being knotted, having biology that’s actually equipped for it might not be the worst thing.”
A laugh tore out of Michael’s throat. “Easy for you to say! You’d never even consider it if you were in my place!”
“I’m not in your place,” Anthony said, meeting his eyes steadily.
“And neither is anyone else. You should stop thinking about what other people would do and really think about what you want, Michael. Do you actually want to go back to normal—the old normal—or do you just think you should, because that’s what’s expected of you? ”
Michael wet his dry lips with his tongue, his mind reeling. “I don’t—of course I don’t want to be an omega! I was born an alpha, and I was perfectly happy to be an alpha until Belith fucked me up!”
“I know you were,” Anthony said. “But we don’t live in a hypothetical world where you never went with me to Belith. In this one, you’ve been eagerly spreading your legs for me for more than two months.”
“You’re being an asshole,” Michael said.
Anthony gave him a rueful look. “Maybe I am, but I’m just telling you the truth as it is, even if you don’t like hearing it.
” He leaned in, so close their mouths almost touched.
“I was serious: I’ve never been with a person who loved getting knotted as much you do.
You can’t get enough of it.” He sucked on Michael’s bottom lip, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper.
“Imagine if you didn’t need any prep for my knot, if you got wet just from looking at me.
You’d always be ready, and I could just slip my cock into you and fuck you stupid anytime and anywhere we wanted. ”
Michael shuddered, hating the rush of heat his crude words caused.
Anthony was hard inside him again, grinding shallowly into Michael as he kept saying inane filth against his mouth.
“You’re already so pretty, you’d make a stunning omega.
” Anthony started thrusting for real. “Other alphas would be lining up for the privilege of courting you, but you wouldn’t want them.
Your hole is shaped by my cock. You’d only want mine.
You’d start dripping for me the moment I walked into the room. Wouldn’t you?”
“Fuck off,” Michael said weakly, but his hips were moving, hungry for it.
Anthony wrapped his fingers around his throat and squeezed—not hard enough to choke him, but hard enough to feel pressure. So fucking perfect. Michael moaned brokenly, meeting the other alpha’s thrusts.
“Look at you,” Anthony said, his glassy eyes roaming over Michael’s naked, writhing body under him. “You look like you were born to take cock. Deep down, you know it. You know you’d hate going back to fucking omegas. You’d want to be in their place, getting ploughed by a fat alpha cock.”
Michael squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, but his body betrayed him, spiraling toward orgasm embarrassingly fast. “Knot me,” he choked out. “Knot me, alpha.”
Anthony groaned and kissed him hard, grinding his cock in as his knot started inflating. “Such a knot-hungry little bitch,” he crooned, sounding drunk. “I’d keep you knotted up and full of my come all day long if you were my omega. Knock you up so good.”
The filth he was spewing was so outrageous it shocked Michael into an orgasm. He came with a cry, milking the other alpha’s knot greedily.
Fucking hell.
So fucking good.
He moaned in protest when Anthony’s knot had deflated enough to slip out of him.
That finally got Michael’s higher brain functions working again. He flushed with humiliation as he remembered everything Anthony had said.
“Get out,” he said, sitting up and reaching for his clothes.
He expected Anthony to argue.
But probably sensing that he’d crossed the line, Anthony was quiet. He didn’t say anything as he got dressed.
Michael had started thinking that he wouldn’t say anything at all before leaving, but Anthony paused by the door, his hand on the handle. “People say stupid shit during sex,” he said, his voice very neutral. “Shit they don’t actually mean.”
Michael’s stomach clenched. “They do.” His tone was as neutral as Anthony’s. “I’m sure you didn’t mean any of it.”
Silence.
Then the door opened and closed, and Anthony was gone.
Michael fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes, fighting the urge to breathe in the scent of alpha and sex clinging to the sheets.
He failed, of course.
Turning onto his stomach, he pressed his face against the pillow Anthony used and breathed in greedily, a whine building in his throat.
Lately, he’d begun to crave this—he wanted to burrow beneath Anthony’s skin, to wake with his scent on the sheets, to hear the rough timbre of his voice in the morning.
Damn it all.